Geography Intent ( from September 2023)

Intent

At Tudor Primary School we believe that geography helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the world. The geography curriculum enables children to develop knowledge, vocabulary and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. As pupils progress through the school, they will develop an insight into the links between physical and human processes and how landscapes and environments have changed and continue to change over time. Through the chosen topics, children learn their role as global citizens and their place within the world.

 The curriculum is designed to develop:

 • Knowledge about the world (substantive knowledge), based on appropriate selections of curriculum content

 • Knowledge about how geographers understand the world, investigate it, and build and test new knowledge (disciplinary knowledge),

• Knowledge and skills in geographical application, so that they grow and mature as individuals and citizens by developing their personal capabilities, values and moral codes.

Implementation

EYFS

In the EYFS pupils engage with the physical environment through forest school to develop early observational and exploration skills. Pupils learn about their immediate environment and the local area, they talk about similarities and differences that they notice in the world around them.  Pupils also develop a concept of the wider world through carefully selected core books and taking part in cultural activities and celebrations. This lays a secure foundation for the development of geographical skills in the later key stages.

Key Stage1 and Key stage 2

As a school, we follow the principles of Chris Quigley’s scheme of work in terms of cognitive science but have adapted the themes to link to the intent. The scheme follows Rosenshine principles (modelling, retrieval, student practice, scaffolding and questioning) which are well embedded within our school. We follow  Chris Quigley’s cognitive science and principles but have further adapted the scheme to fit in with our pupil’s heritage, background, culture and locality.

 We aim for our pupils to develop geographical practices alongside learning through geographical enquiry. This is so they begin to work like a geographer in terms of asking questions, collecting data and illuminative material, gathering evidence, examining and analysing, interpreting, evaluating, problem-solving, decision-making and drawing conclusions

Characteristics of a geographer:

●A good knowledge of where places are and what they are like.

●An understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected and how much human and physical environments are interrelated.

●A substantial base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary.

●Fluency in complex, geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills and use effective analytical and presentational techniques.

●The ability to reach clear conclusions and develop a reasoned argument to explain findings.

●Significant levels of originality, imagination or creativity as shown in interpretations and representations of the subject matter.

●Developed and frequently utilised fieldwork and other geographical skills and techniques.

●A passion for and commitment to the subject, and a real sense of curiosity to find out about the world and the people who live there.

●The ability to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in very good knowledge and understanding about current and contemporary issues in society and the environment.

Our pupils categorise their knowledge, skills and understanding around the following ‘Big ideas’ in developing geographical learning:

• Place - What is it like, what happens there, how it changes, emotion response.
• Space- Location, distribution, patterns and network connections, layout.
• Scale- Local, regional, national, continental, global.
• Environment (physical and human processes) -Physical and human processes, actions and features, change.
• Environmental impact and sustainability -Interactions, disparity, connections, social identity, values.
• Cultural awareness- Diversity, disparity, connections, social identity, values.
• Interconnections- Links between features, places, events and people.

Impact

 Through explicit teaching of Geography, both the teachers and pupils are able to assess their learning. Before the beginning of a new concept, KS1 pupils are given a pre-quiz at the beginning and a post quiz at the end to reflect on their knowledge and understanding. Our ‘Quality writing pieces’  for KS2 enables teachers to make professional judgements about the depth of pupils' learning and progress made over time.